how do I know whether a university is too competitive to be a safety school

[MinervasOwl]

Hi,

This is the second year I am applying to PhD programs. Last year I was not too smart and only applied to places like UPenn. I got into LSE- but didn't get funded and I got rejected at my 2 other applications.

This year I was trying to be clever- get more of a spread in and apply to as many places as my meager pocket will allow so this year its

UPenn again (I have better GREs this year with v165 q153)

Yale

Northwestern

George Washington

Madison Wisconsin

Rutgers

McGill

Arizona

and I'm thinking about UVA but am not sure - the website is not very appealing- but I did get a nice friendly email response from one faculty member

Are any of these safety schools at all? I just don't want another year of rejections all around- I dunno what I would do. And since I'm an international student I don't know where I can find out about the competitiveness levels for these schools

[Seeking]

"safe School" can mean different things to different people. In terms of admission and funding, you do have some "safe schools" on that list. But do look at the past success rate of the PhD graduates from these schools - how many of them completed their PhD, how many got a job of what kind and so on - that will give you a clearer idea of what may be a "safe school."

[juilletmercredi]

I don't think one should have "safety schools" in the traditional sense when applying for PhD programs. When I say traditional sense, I think of a safety school as one that isn't necessarily the best fit for you nor a school that you would choose to go to independently, but a school that you will go to if you don't get in anywhere else.

That works in college because college degrees are almost a necessity in today's job market, and you can get a decent undergraduate education at pretty much any reputable accredited non-profit college. But for a PhD - if you want to go into academia, you need to go to the best fit program for you. You also will be spending between 5 and 10 years there depending on your field. You need to be reasonably content, it needs to have a good reputation and you need to have an advisor with at least some connections who can help you on the job market.

Edited November 29, 2011 by juilletmercredi

[cyclechicster]

@juilletmercredi thanks for that! People have been asking me what my safety schools are and I haven't chosen any... I was starting to think that I'd made a mistake in not choosing any "safety schools" to apply to. You make a lot of sense, though, so I feel better now.